Hits

Who's Here

Jim's Blog

Devotion 03/02/13

Psalm 27:13-14 But I have sure faith that I will experience the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living! Hope in the LORD! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the LORD!

There was a day this week that the weather broke and it cleared enough to go for a walk in the woods. In the last 10 years I have done this 100’s of times and walked I am sure 100’s of miles. A time to commune with God in His creation, a time to think, to pray, and almost always to cry. The area I was walking in is full of wildlife, deer, elk, cougars, coyotes, and every lesser critter. On this day I was feeling despair and as I started my walk I set a fleece, “Lord if you are really in these circumstances let me see some wildlife today”. Have you ever done that, desperate for a sign that God is working? Well I was part way into my walk quietly moving along an old overgrown skidder road so as not to startle anything I might come upon, and I looked down and inching along was a caterpillar. I continued on and when I had gotten as far as I felt like going I stopped for a while overlooking the valley and I thought, and prayed, and cried; the same as 100’s of other times then started back to my car. As I got closer to my car I realized that I had not seen any wildlife, not even a bird; Nothing. The first thought that came into my mind was, “Lord I didn’t see anything, where are You?” Then His whisper, “You saw a caterpillar.” “Yes I did” my response came, not in indignation but from that place of desperate need for affirmation, “but it was just a Caterpillar”. Then the lesson, “Kiddo that Caterpillar is indeed one of the lowliest critters, not as majestic as an Elk, not as powerful as a Cougar, and not as crafty as a Coyote; But that little Caterpillar is about to experience my creative genius in a way that none of the animals you hoped to see can even imagine, as mighty as they are compared to him, when all is said and done their experience will pale compared to his.”. Precious one, God is working in our circumstances, for He never rests and He will never waste pain. We can trust Him, and we must wait for Him for though we may feel caterpillary today when He is through we will emerge a butterfly.

Be blessed. †

Devotion 04/15/12 updated Sundays

In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. Psalm 22:4Commit your way to the LORD ; trust in him and he will do this: Psalm 37:5In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? Psalm 56:4They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. Psalm 22:5Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Psalm 125:1 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Psalm 143:8I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD . The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, Jeremiah39:18 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:2Please forgive me father God. You alone are completely trustworthy. You have never failed to deliver on Your promises, not throughout all of history. For indeed; history, is Your story. You’ve known the end, since the beginning. How could I not trust You.

Devotion 03/18/12 updated Sundays

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Romans 6:1-2

I fear that nothing has wrought more far reaching devastation within the church today than the insinuation that because of God's grace He will accept us as we are, that our behavior isn't going to be considered by Him and our sin is somehow expected and as such is going to simply be overlooked because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This even though over and over in Scripture Jesus followed His healings with the admonishment in one form or another to, "go your way and sin no more". To be clear no one says, "Your sin is OK, continue in it" but terms like, "God understands that we all sin and fall short" and "God understands our humanness" are terms of permission to an audience who has been raised with the misconception that above all else God wants to bless them and make them happy, and that His grace is completely independent of their behavioral choices. These teachings are not lies, not complete lies anyway; but neither are they complete truths. God's grace and His mercy are indeed boundless. There is no sin that can not be forgiven and nothing that can steal us from His hand. But at the same time these truths are dependant on our choices. You see, if we choose to rebelliously continue in a sinful behavior or if we choose to rebel and step out of His hand He is not bound. That is one of the consequences of free will. The doorway that leads to experiencing His grace and mercy is dependant on our choosing to repent from our sins, and our choosing to stay in His hand through our obedience to His precepts. That is the key that unlocks the door. Some would wrongly say that that is salvation by works, but it is not. Obedience is not a work, it is an obligation. God is a God of order and balance, action and reaction. He has set His precepts and He has set consequences for obeying and disobeying those precepts. His grace and mercy were purchased with the blood of His Son. It is a mockery to devalue His sacrifice by treating it as if it is a license to sin. That is what Paul is teaching here. So please if you want to experience the grace that His death purchased, you must die to yourself. Asking for forgiveness of sin and repenting from sin are very, very different. Choose repentance, obedience, and sacrifice. Without making those choices….the door stays locked… †

Devotion 03/11/12 updated Sundays

Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. Proverbs 13:3

…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11

An observation: We all at times feel a need to vent, and we all at times need to ask for prayer. It is a Christian’s duty to be there as a support for a brother or sister who is hurting or who is in need. The problem arises in the sharing of too many details, or too much information being given when we are asking for help or prayer. Satan can not read our minds, he watches our actions and reactions, and listens to our words to see if we show weakness in a given area and if he sees that a certain circumstance causes us to react in fear, or anger, or sadness we have revealed to him a place we are vulnerable. Likewise if he hears us speak that a certain action causes us to doubt, or hurts us, we have revealed to him yet another place we are vulnerable. Rest assured he pays attention, and he WILL exploit these areas. That is how he works. He has studied human nature for 6000 years with the sole intent of learning how to deceive us, learning how to scare us, learning how to destroy our faith and in turn our souls….. Please be careful how you speak, think and pray before you act or react. In most cases there is no need to divulge all the dirty details, in truth there are usually ulterior motives when that is done. When all is said and done, we are often responsible for many of the attacks we must later endure for we reveal our own weaknesses in the ways we act and react, and with the words we say….Father God please protect our lips and help us guard our reactions in Jesus name…. †

Devotion 03/04/12 updated Sundays

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8:32

I have been thinking a lot about this passage lately. In a way; at times anyway, it seems that the opposite is sometimes true. One can tell the simple truth with the best of intentions and have that truth twisted, ignored, and or exaggerated by the hearer to the point that the truth seemingly imprisons us rather than setting us free. I have suffered the consequences of this many times in my life, and it is very real. Sadly many even if they know the truth don’t tell it for they want the truth to be what they need it to be, so that is what they make it. What I have realized is that the tense you consider this verse in makes all of the difference. Let me try to explain what I mean. If we look at this verse in regards to past or present experiences it is not always experientially true, we can suffer greatly at the hands of the truth while still alive, for we have no guarantee how or even if the truth will be accepted or what kind of response it will be received with. However if we look at it in regards to the future, it will eventually always be true. For you see the moment we take our last breath we will stand before God to be judged according to our truth. Have we confessed our sins? Have we repented of our sins? Did we obey all of God’s precepts or did we take Him for granted. Did we look for excuses to push the boundaries? God will not leave us at the gate with St. Peter while He comes down to check with our spouse, or boss, or pastor, or friends to have them fill Him in on anything He may have missed concerning us. He knows our truth, all of it, and we will be judged according to it: All of it. If we are indeed right with Him according to His precepts our truth will indeed set us free. Sadly the other side of this is that on that day in the future when those who have mistreated our truth stand before the Lord to be judged for their truth, our truth will imprison them. For that's what Scripture means when It says, “We will be judged according to how we judge”. Lord help us each to commit to complete honesty and obedience to You and to judge others carefully and justly, for that is what will determine if indeed our truth sets us free… or imprisons us.